Page - 65 - in Otto Bauer (1881–1938) - Thinker and Politician

thematerialist view of history 65 andobjectivelyexistingrelationsofproductionas thebase,which inhisview were determined by changes in production and the exchange of goods. The superstructure, for him, consisted of intellectual achievements and the legal andpolitical system.Asalreadymentioned,hedidnotagree that therewasa dialectical relationshipbetweenthe twosidesof thesocio-economicprocess, insteadstressingtheirmutualdependency. ThesereflectionsrevealagraveinconsistencyinBauer’stheorythatisworth examiningmoreclosely.The inconsistency relates toquestionsof themutual relationship between objective and subjective factors of history, where the philosopher tookaposition close to that of the anti-naturalists.He summar- ised the relationship between the objective and subjective sides ofMarxism in a formula thatwent beyond the confines ofwhatwas acceptedby ortho- doxMarxists. Taking issue with their positions, he emphasised: ‘To simply counterposesubjectiveandobjective factors isworldsawayfromMarxistdia- lectics. One needs to understand that the qualities of the subjective factor result fromobjective factorsnoless thanobjective factorsresult fromsubject- ive actions’.45 It is not difficult to explain the position that Bauer took here. Becauseheagreedthattransformationsintheeconomicstructureconstituted the sole determinant of social development, he logically assumed that the human spirit obeyedmaterial conditions. This assumptionwas, as itwere, a sort ofplea for theautomatismofhistory. Inevitably, it led to theaffirmation of attentist attitudes in theworkers’ party,which ran counter to the implicit objective of the Social-Democraticmovement, namely that of revolutionary upheaval.Toovercomethisdilemma,Bauermadearemarkableattempttolink deterministic-economic elementswith activist elements (note that both are intrinsictoMarx’stheory).Bauer’s lineofargumentaccentuatedthefollowing components: 1. Theconsciousness-formingconstituentsoftheeconomicbase,theproduct- iveforces,havenopurelymaterialcharacter.Rather,theyareforcesofnature that humans consciously instrumentalise in order to satisfy their needs. Humanthoughtisaninalienablepartoftechnologicalprocesses.Economic relationsmustalwaysbereadassocialrelations.LetusnoteherethatBauer’s sich ihreDenkweise, verändernsichdieSittendiemoralischenWerte,dieWissenschaft, dieKunst,dieReligion’–Bauer1976j,p.491. 45 ‘Man ist vonmarxistischenDialektik weltenweit entfernt, wennman den subjektiven und den objektiven Faktor einander unvermittelt gegenüberstellt, statt die Qualitäten des subjektiven Faktors ebenso als Resultate objektiver Faktoren zu begreifenwie die objektivenFaktorenalsResultatesubjektivenHandelns’–Bauer1980ee,p.739.